Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Ivy Day 3
Players Mentioned
Temple Thrills DeNunzio With 200 Back Title; Harvard Dives To Ivy Title
February 21, 2016 | Women's Swimming and Diving
COMPLETE RESULTS
As Lindsay Temple touched the wall, her teammates and a loud, faithful Orange and Black contingent in the crowd went wild inside their beloved DeNunzio Pool walls. The sophomore had just won her first career Ivy League individual title, a gutsy race that exemplified the way her teammates competed throughout the weekend.
The Tigers wouldn't get the final leap into the pool that they hoped for — a brilliant performance by the Harvard diving squad provided a margin too large for either Princeton or Yale to overcome — but there was plenty to celebrate over three exciting days at the 2016 Ivy League Championships.
“Suzanne and I are so proud of this team and how well they competed this weekend,” head coach Susan Teeter said afterwards. “Most of all we are enormously proud of this senior class and the four years of fun, fast swimming and leadership they have given this program. They will be greatly missed. We congratulate our rivals, Harvard and Yale, as well as to rest of the league on a great meet. It's wonderful to see the league have such great competition.”
Harvard won the Ivy title with 1500.5 points, while Yale took second with 1422.5 points and Princeton finished third with 1411.5 points. The team scores that scrolled throughout DeNunzio through the night were thrillingly close — at one point, the difference between first and second place was .5 of a point — but Harvard had about 150 points in the bank since all six of its divers had already qualified for Saturday's A final in the 3-meter event.
Regardless, that didn't affect a single Princeton swimmer's performance throughout the day. That just isn't what the culture — the tradition — of PUCSDT is all about. Princeton sent swimmers into every 'A' final, and multiple swimmers in most cases, and gave the crowd a jolt with Temple's win in the 200 back.
The sophomore, who took third in the 100 back Friday night, was matched up with reigning champion Danielle Lee of Harvard in the middle lanes. Temple took the first split, then followed with another winning split to hold the lead through 100. The lead grew by the 150 mark, and the final 50 was a combination of fast swimming and a dynamic crowd that helped carry Temple to the win in a meet record time of 1:55.14.
Senior Sada Stewart took seventh in the 100 back final in 1:58.44, while freshman Joanna Curry took eighth in 2:00.07.
Several Princeton freshmen showed that they would be impact performers for years to come. Distance standout Monica McGrath took sixth in the mile in 16:36.14, while classmate Isabel Reis finished fifth in the 200 fly in 1:59.00. The trio of Lindsey Swartz (4th, 2:15.29), Kathryn Didion (6th, 2:16.84), and Janet Zhao (7th, 2:17.52) gave the 200 breast final a particular Orange and Black a feel to it.
Of course, the Tiger seniors had their share of great swims during their final session at DeNunzio. Elizabeth McDonald (5th, 50.11) and Nikki Larson (7th, 50.40) closed their All-Ivy careers in the 100 free final, while Morgan Karetnick (6th, 1:59.08) and Beverly Nguyen (8th, 2:01.14) reached the 200 fly final.
Junior Lisa Li moved up from fourth in the 3-meter consolation final to win the event with 280.40 points, while freshman Carolyn MacFarlane — a 1-meter finalist Thursday — took third in the consolation final with 278.80 points.
Princeton closed the meet with a great final swim, as the quartet of Temple, Larson, McDonald and Maddy Veith finished second in the 400 free relay in 3:19.51.
“Every season we start out talking about what we need to do to swim well at the end,” associate head coach Suzanne Yee said. “Our women continued to prove time and again this weekend that they believe in the journey and the hard work they put in all season is paying off. Each session we came in ready to race and put it all on the line, and I couldn't be prouder of how we finished the season, and glad that our seniors could have a special meet at home to end their Princeton careers.”